The diplomats who negotiated the Iran nuclear deal, a Russian migrant-rights activist, and Yazidi women who were held as slaves by the Islamic State extremist group are among 376 people nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded on October 7.

If diplomatic achievement wins the day, Washington's top diplomat, John Kerry, and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, may be the recipients of the prize.

But with a focus on the millions of migrants and refugees unleashed by wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, activists who defend the rights of such migrants are also being considered for the award.

One of those is Russian rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina, for her decades-long work with refugees and migrants -- an issue that has shot to prominence in Europe since the migrant crisis exploded last year.

Greek islanders who took in thousands of refugees off boats from the Aegean Sea also have been nominated, as have the Syrian White Helmet volunteers for their daring efforts to rescue civilians hit by the daily carnage of bombing in Syria.